Unmasked
by Katastropheeeee
Summary: A certain shinobi struggles to come to terms with his spontaneous attraction to a particular bubblegum haired kunoichi. For the first time in his life, he finds himself out of his depth as well as entirely vulnerable. Kakashi. M for language and themes.
1. Attraction

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor the characters in Naruto. I just manipulate them like my own personal voodoo dolls.

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><p><span>Unmasked<span>

Chapter One: Attraction

The enigmatic silver haired shinobi had executed his dull existence perfectly for the last decade at least.

Execute missions. Return half-dead. Lounge in hospital for a week or two reading explicit romantic novels. Repeat.

Women were trouble, obstacles to be avoided.

Sure, that often landed him with a gay label, but it served him well.

The worst that had happened was some complete idiot having made the assumption that he was screwing Umino Iruka.

Wrong on so many levels.

First up, he wasn't gay.

While there were one or two shinobi he would perhaps consider turning gay for, Iruka was most definitely not one of them.

Just because he didn't do the whole drunken hooking up didn't mean he was gay.

Scantily clad women throwing themselves at him in a seedy bar was simply not his idea of a good time.

Sex didn't really interest him.

At least not mindless, emotionless sex.

If he wanted that all he needed to do was go to the local brothel.

Meaningful relationships were hard to forge, and Kakashi had neither the time nor the inclination to pursue one.

All he had cared about was ripped away sooner or later.

Secondly, while Iruka was a friend as well as a fellow shinobi, their relationship didn't extend further than passing in hallways and the occasionally encounter at Ichiraku Ramen.

Their common denominator was Naruto.

Somewhere along the way he had been lumped with three rather cute but nevertheless annoying genin.

Though they disrupted his general flow, he found them tolerable at least after the initial phase.

While somewhat tedious, his life pleased him.

Three years on, where was he?

One had defected, one was training to contain the demon that raged inside him, and the other was driving him utterly insane.

But she didn't know it.

Somewhere along the way, Sakura had acquired something her teammates lacked.

The girl oozed sex appeal.

Not that he was going to tell her that.

Even if he did, she'd simply assume that he was being a dirty old man - again, and subsequently ignore him.

In the world of adult explicitness, he could have been a vegetable for utter lack of reaction that she gave him.

Shamelessly inappropriate quips gave him either a raised eyebrow or a threatening glare.

After so many years of general sexual deprivation, his spontaneous obsession with his former student had caught him entirely off guard.

It just happened.

One day his body decided that this girl - no, Sakura was most decidedly a woman now - was enough to drive him entirely crazy.

Naruto returned from his training sabbatical, and Team 7 was reinstated.

As such, Sakura came back into his life.

Over the past two years she'd been preoccupied with her training and he'd only ever seen her in passing a handful of times.

Now forced into such a close relationship with her, he had realized something.

Sakura had become attractive, and not just a little bit.

More than once he'd been forced to stop his eyes from wandering over her curved hips and focusing on her fantastically well sculpted behind.

Which was exactly what he was doing now.

"Kakashi…? Is everything alright?" asked the kunoichi as she turned to face him, concern furrowing her brow.

"Hmm?" he replied, disappointed that his view had been interrupted.

Realization dawned a few seconds later.

Cold sweat slipped down his back.

'Oh fuck...'

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><p>[EndChapterOne]<p> 


	2. Ramen

Unmasked

Chapter Two: Ramen

The volatile bubblegum haired medic had just caught him checking her out.

Death was imminent.

For the briefest of moments panic leapt across his synapses.

Sakura was more than capable of beating him to a pulp.

However his shameless staring had been interpreted by said kunoichi as him some kind of intense contemplation of life's inner mysteries.

If only she knew.

Perhaps he could tell her, maybe. If she was restrained in some way so that she wouldn't accidentally try to kill him in a fit of rage.

No, that wouldn't work.

Sakura and restraints did not work well together - given that she had an inhuman super strength.

Regardless, under what pretense would he convince her to let herself be tied up?

'Excuse me, Sakura-chan, do you mind coming over here and letting me tie you up?' would probably not go down well.

...and it could start a new round of rumours.

While he could deal with insinuations that he was gay, being mistaken for some sexual deviant was not exactly high on his to do list. Ever.

Especially with a student.

Next idea?

A few seconds later he registered that Sakura had actually said something.

Given the conventions of their apparently advanced society, he was supposed to give a response of some kind.

Otherwise he would seem A. arrogant, B. rude or C. slightly deranged.

At last his brain snapped into place, and bothered to form a reply to her previous question.

"Yeah, fine." he replied lamely.

A warm smile came to life on her lips, the kind that forced his stomach into repeated back flips.

On the surface however, he was a cool as ever, the corners of his lips turning up into only the slightest of smiles.

"Come on, Kakashi-sensei. You're not getting out of it this time. You are treating us to ramen, mainly to make up for all the other times you've skipped out on us." exclaimed Naruto before entering his favourite establishment.

Sakura turned and followed Naruto into Ichiraku ramen.

Taking a deep breath he made a mental note to be more careful.

Maybe once or twice she'd let it slide, but sooner or later she was bound to notice.

Awkward situations were not fun, especially given that they were supposed to function like a well oiled machine to complete various, more often than not life-threatening missions.

On the other hand, perhaps if she noticed it would make things a little easier.

If she felt as though it would affect their team work, hypothetically she'd come and talk to him about it. Right?

Best case scenario, she'd confront him about it hand he'd have to come clean.

Worst case, she'd think him some kind of pervert. If she didn't already.

Scratch that.

Worst case scenario, she'd kill him. While extreme, you could never know with women.

While risking death was all in a days work, he knew that Sakura could inflict a very painful, not to mention drawn out death if she wanted to.

Subtlety was the go.

If he downplayed it and was more careful about when and where he allowed his gaze, not to mention thoughts to wander, he might come out of this alive.

Besides, the threat of being caught could possibly deter him, at least a little bit.

Maybe.

...not really.

It was the thrill of the chase. That's what it always comes down to - or so he had been told.

If he played his cards right, using subtle hints coupled with his general fantastic self, he could get the girl - and possibly come out of it alive.

However, if he ignored her, Sakura would fall for him hard and fast.

At least, that's how it went in all the romantic films that Tenzo insisted (read: begged) he watch.

Shaking his head he returned to reality.

Ignoring her was not an option.

But, behaving as though he had no interest in the young kunoichi at all was child's play.

Back to nonchalant sensei mode.

There were already three steaming bowls of ramen served by the time he rocked up.

After handing him a bowl, Sakura had plunked herself down next to Naruto.

Now came the challenge of choosing a seat.

There was a spare seat beside Naruto, and another beside Sakura.

If he chose Sakura it could imply something. What that something was he wasn't quite certain, but implications were not good.

Before he was forced to make his decision, he was saved by none other than Naruto.

Naruto sneezed and two things happened.

One, Sakura jumped back from the counter, her bowl springing off the counter.

Two, Naruto's bowl decided that this was the perfect opportunity to try and become one with the floor.

Catching both of their bowls with a brilliantly timed twist while holding his own had been no mean feat.

Regardless, somehow every bowl of ramen had ended up in his hands.

Gasping as the heated bowls burned his skin he accidentally knocked the counter with his elbow.

A stray chopstick clattered to the floor.

"Sakura could you pick that up for me?" he asked, trying to balance the unnecessarily full and hot bowls of ramen.

The kunoichi responded entirely differently to his initial expectations.

"Just because you enjoy reading porn, I'm not going to aid you in actually fulfilling your fantasies." snapped the kunoichi matter-of-factly.

Mouth gaping the silver haired shinobi just stared at her.

She'd interpreted his request of picking up the fallen chopstick as an excuse to get her to bend over and afford him a view of her fantastic arse.

What a brilliant plan.

Why he hadn't thought of this before was beyond him, but for her to actually come out and say what she did was surprising.

As well as somewhat arousing. Not that he'd ever admit it. Ever.

But she still thought he read porn? Seriously?

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><p>[EndChapterTwo]<p> 


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